By John F. McKenna: WBA/IBF/WBO/IBO and Ring Magazine heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (57-3, 50 KO’s) is getting a little tired of hearing the excuses coming out of the training camp of his July 7 challenger Tony “The Tiger” Thompson (36-2, 24 KO’s). Klitschko and Thompson will be squaring off on July 7 at the Stade de Suisse in Bern, Switzerland.

Klitschko is more than a little annoyed that all the news coming out of camp Thompson infers that if it had not been for a knee injury Tony suffered prior to his first fight with “Dr. Steelhammer” four years ago the end result would have been different. In July 2008 Thompson took Wladimir deep into the 11th round before being KO’d.

Klitschko was quoted by Fight Hype saying the following:

“In boxing it’s always tough. You break your hand, you tear your muscles or your tendons, which can happen in a fight and I have experienced it myself multiple times, but nobody is interested in that. Everyone is interested in the end result. Nobody is interested in what was in-between.”

Earlier on Thompson was quoted as saying:

“I really was on one leg, I had a torn meniscus in my knee and unfortunately I was unable to train to my full abilities and prepare for the heavyweight championship of the world. This time we were able to prepare and with a healthy body we have a legitimate shot.”

Thompson attempted to convince boxing scribes and perhaps himself that he has the necessary tools to defeat Wladimir, who has dominated the heavyweight division for over six years.

Klitschko at 36 is at his peak and shows no signs of slowing down. In fact “Dr. Steelhammer” is much improved from the fighter who took Thompson out in eleven rounds four years ago.

Wladimir has taken a considerable amount of heat for taking on Thompson, but the reality is that “The Tiger” is Klitschko’s mandatory challenger. In fact some of the up and coming fighters in the heavyweight division have indicated that they are not keen in taking on Klitschko.

Last July Wladimir decisively defeated former WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (25-2, 23 KO’s) over twelve rounds. After the fight “The Hayemaker” attempted to blame his loss on an injured pinky toe. Now with Thompson blaming his 2008 loss on an injury Wladimir is understandably tired of hearing the excuses.

By contrast last February when WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (44-2, 40 KO’s) unanimously defeated challenger Derek Chisora (15-3, 9 KO’s) he said nothing about an injured shoulder that prevented him from using his left arm.

The point is that too many fighters are playing the injury card after a disappointing showing. There are some fighters however who still have class.